Door closing and check mechanism



W. W. WEEKS DOOR CLOSING AND CHECK MECHANISM Filed April 5. 1923 az p54A TTORNEY5 Patented Oct. 4, 1927. 1' v UNITED STATES COMPANY, INC.,ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PATENT. OFFICE SUPPLIES noon CLOSING: AND CHECK MECHANISM.

Application filed Apri1 3,

This invention relates to a door closer and check mechanism, and moreparticularly to a mechanism of this character especially adapted for useupon the doors of elevator hatchways.

One form of door-closing and check mechanism which has been heretoforeused to a considerable extent comprises an oil con trolled dab-pot andone or more coiled springs acting upon the dash-pot piston in adirection to produce closing movements of the door. In this form ofdoor-closing and check mechanism it has been necessary to provide astufiing box at the end of the dash-pot cylinder through which thepiston rod passes to prevent the leakage of oil from the cylinder atthis point. This stuffing box packing takes up a considerable part ofthe power of thedoor-closing spring, thereby rendering the mechanismless efficient. The springs employed in this i mechanism have beencoiled springs of the compression type and it has heretofore been foundto be impracticable to employ a single spring inasmuch as the springbuckles under compression and is thereby thrown against the sides of thechamber in which it is enclosed, causing a great deal of friction. Toavoid this difiiculty in one construction heretoforeproduced, twosprings are employed in combination with a separator interposed betweenthe springs and mounted to slide along the piston rod, therebycomplicating the construction. g V

The principal objects of the present invention are to improve theconstruction and mode of operation of doorclosing and check mechanismand to produce a mechanism of this class in which the disadvantagesabove pointed out are wholly obviated. y I

lVith these objects in view, a feature of the invention contemplates theprovision, in connection with an oil receiving chamber connected withthe dash-pot cylinder, of a r dash-pot cylinder having communicationwith the chamber so that oil on one side of the piston may flow freelyfrom the dash-pot cylinder into the chamber during the movement of thepiston in one direction in the cylinder and may thereafter flow backfrom the chamber into the cylinder preferably on the other side of thepiston. Inasmuch as the dash-pot cylinder is thus kept filled withoilfrom the chamber, and the combined capacity of the dash pot cylinderand 1923. Serial No. 629,552.

chamber is greater than the quantityof oil which is used, thereis nonecessity to employanypacking to take up power. For the sake ofconvenience and compactness in the construction arrangement of parts,the door closing spring is preferably mounted in the oihreceivingchamber.

Certain other features of the invention relate to the provision of animproved doorclosing spring constructed to prevent the buckling of thespring under compression I so that a single spring may beemployed toproduce the door-closing movement.

The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawingsillustrating the invention in its preferred form and the followingdetailed description of the construction therein shown.

In the drawings :,Fig. 1 is a view in elevation illustrating adoor-closing and check mechanism embodying the present invention appliedto a horizontally sliding door. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation partly insection illustrating certain parts of the mechanism shown'in Fig. 1,-andFig. 3 is a detail sectiona-l view taken substantially on the line 3'3of Fig. 1. I c

As shown in the drawings'of the present application, the invention isembodied in a door-closing and check mechanism applied to a horizontallysliding door. In the construction shown, the door indicated 'at 1 ismounted to slide horizontally upon a suitable track indicated at 2. Themechanism for opening and closing the doorcomprises a toggle leverconsisting of two members 3 and 4 pivotally connected together at 5 of,which the member 4 is pivoted at 6 to the side of the elevator hatchwayand the member 3 is pivoted at 7 to the door. The toggle lever may beoperated to open the door and to initiate the closing movement thereofby means of a manually operable lever 8 pivoted at 9 to the door andconnected with the member'3of the toggle lever by a link 10.

In the present embodiment of the invention, thedash-pot and door-closingspring of the door-closing and check mechanism are arranged to' act uponthe member 4 of the oft-he daslnpot its-mounted on the lower Ill l "1:.r? r if end of a piston rod 20 which; at its upper end, is pivotallyconnected at :22 to a bracket 24- secured to the member 4 of the dooroperating toggle lever. i The dash-pot cylinder is filled with an oil orany othersuitable liquid for controlling the movements of the piston inthe cylinder. The piston.18 is arranged to fit comparatively clo' ely inthe lower part ofthe dash-pot cylinder andthe cylinder is provided witha by-pass passageway 26 through which theho l may flow in eitherdirection 1 during the movement of I the pis ton in the lower part ofthe cylinder. The fipw of the oil through this. by-pass'. is con;trolled by an adjlr-table check valve 28. The partl ;of; the .dash-potcyl-inder above the check valve. 28 -is preterablyformed with a series;;of 1 longitudinal grooves 30 through which; the; oil nay fiow betweenthe. piston and ;the,cylinder during the movement of the pistoninthispart/0t the cylinder. H -Jllhedah-pot piston rod 20 is acted upon by a;doonclosingspring 32 mounted within a chamber 3 lsecured to the upperendof the dash-pot cylinder This, spring at its upper end engagesthe endwall of thechamher 34:;- and at its, lower end surrounds a thi nble-36secured. to the dash-pot piston rodQO and actsngainst a 'fiangeZ-ESformed on thelgnver part of the thimble,

Inorder that the oilwithin the dash-pot cylinderl2 may escape freelyintoth'e chamber 34: during. the upward movement otthe pisto-n 18 incsai dcylindenthe upper end of the dash-pot cylinder is. o'penfpreierablythroughout snbstanti ally the entire diameter ot th e pistonv guidewayin said cylinder, as shown clearly in .Fig. 1 The thimble 36 engages oneor nore abutinents ltl to liinit its downward movement sonthat there isa space.- between the thinible and the upper end of the. dash-potcylinder even when the thimble-isin its lower limiti ng position, theseabutinents being arranged so. that there is ample space between the samefor the flow o t; oil. This allows the oilto flow freely from thedash-pot cylinder between the uplperendnf thecylinder and the thi nbleinto the chamber 3d at the beginning of the upward movementio tthepiston. I i-order to allow t;he.oil discharged into the chamber 34 tofiowbackinto, the dash-pot cylinder 12 so as tokeep the cylinder filledwith oil at leastiiptothe upper end of theby-pass 26,

the cylinder. informed with diagonal passageways-{l2 connect ng thechamber with tho nterioigot the cylinder. These passageways .arearranged so that when the piston sra't the upper lim t ot its strok-easindicated in d ot ted lines in Fig.2, their lower or discharge ends arelocated'below the piston so that the oil from the chamber will i .cl hlrgeclbe w th pis lifi th p in in the operation of the mechanism. In theuse of the above mechanism sufiicient oil is introdu ced into the to thedash-pot cylinder and to partially fill said chamber.

Inthe operation ofxtlie niechanisiii deupper end of "the bypass, the oilabove fth'e piston can flow freely through the grooves 30 be tween thepiston and the" walls of the cylinder, and can alsoflow treely into thechamber 34 through the upperlend of the cylinder. During the upwardmovement or the piston, the coiledspring 32 is of course comprcsned bythe upward movement of the piston VVhenthe door is released, the coiledspring 32 acting on the piston rod will t ree the rod downwardly andthrough its action on the levers E} and 10 will close the door. Duringthe first part of the downward movement of the piston in the cylinder,

the oil in the cylinder iwill have very little retarding action on thepiston as it;ca'n tlow 't'rcely through the grooves 30 past the pistonso that'the first part of the closing movement of the door will be arelatively rapid inovcnienti When the piston however reaches the upperend oi. the by-pass 26, ,its movement will be checked by the oil belowthe same and will be controlled by the passage of the oil from below thepiston through the byepass 26. Thus the final closing movei nient otthedoor will be a comparatively slow gradual movement. v

The chamber 34 of the present QOnQtfuation is preferably cylindrical incross-section and threaded-into a flange 4:4: formedon the dash-potcylinder; The chamber is formed at its upper end with a cap 46, threadedon the body of thechainber and provided with a plug 48 which may bereinoved to allow oil to be introduced. into the chamber. he lower endof the dash-pot cylinder is provided with a cap. 50 threaded on the bodyoi the cylinder which may be removed when it is desired to gain accessreadily to the interior of the cylinder.

The coiled spring preferably has the construction clearly illustratedin' Fig. 2.

As shown in this figure, the coiledsprin'g from a'point intermediate itsends 'towardits upper end is tormed with coils gradually diminishing indiameter. and also, gradually diminishing in pitch.1t.is tound'thatha Icoiled springer this constructionwillnot nae buckle under compression.The variations in the diameters of the coils and the changes in thepitch of the coils in the upper part of the spring are so proportionedthat the spring will have substantially the same tension throughout itslength; i l

The above door-closing andcheck mechanism maybe employed with thedash-pot cylinder and chamber in a substantially "upright position, asshown in the drawing, or

in an inclined position such that the oil will flow from the chamberinto the dash-pot cylinder so as to maintain the cylinder filled withoil above the upper end of the bypass. As the oil necessary to be usedis much less than the capacity of thespring chamber, there is nonecessity for any packing to be used to take up power.

The present invention is not limited to use in connection with the doorsof elevator hatchways, but is capable of various other applications. Itis also to be understood that the invention is not limited to the par-'ticular construction and arrangement of parts of the illustratedembodiment of the invention, but that the invention may be embodied inother forms within the scope of the claims.

The plunger 18 is preferably tapered at its lower portion, as shownat18, in which the lower surface is .015 less in diameter than the upperportion. This serves to break the vacuum more quickly and has otheradvantages.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention and havingspecifically described a device embodying the invention in its preferredform, what is claimed is 1. A door closing and check mechanism having incombination a piston, a cylinder, operating connections between a doorand one of said parts, a chamber connected with the cylinder andcommunicating with the cylinder so that the controlling fluidisdischarged freely from the space in the cylinder on the outer side ofthe piston during the outward stroke of the piston and having passagesdischarging directly from the chamber into the space in the cylinder onthe inner side of the piston when the piston is at or adjacent theposition which it assumes at the end of its outward stroke, saidpassages discharging into the space in the cylinder on the outer side ofthe piston except when the piston is at or adjacent the position whichit occupies at the end of its outward stroke.

2. A door closing'and check mechanism having in combination a piston, acylinder having a by-pass through which the controlling fluid flows witha retarded movement during the movement of the piston in the in nerportion of the cylinder, a chamber connected with the cylinderand'communicating with the cylinder so that the fluid on the outer sideof the piston is discharged freely from the cylinder into the chamberduring the outward movement of the piston in the its stroke.

cylinder and having passages between the "outer, end of the by-pass andthe outer end a point between the ends of the spring toward one endthereof, a bypass in .the cylinder connecting the inner end of'thecylinder with another part thereof, a piston operatingin the cylinderand having its inner end tapered, and connections for relatively operating the piston and cylinder from a door to carry the tapered portion ofthe cylinder past the inner end of the by-pass during the door openingmovement.

4. A door closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, acylinder in which the piston operates having an enlarged outer portionin which the piston moves freely and a contracted inner portion in whichthe piston fits closely, operating connections between a door and one ofsaid 7 parts, a by-pass for controlling the movement of fluid in theinner portion of the cylinder to control movement of the piston in thisportion, a separate spring chamber of larger diameter than the cylindermounted on the outer end of the cylinder in co-axial position withrelation to the cylinder, the cylinder having an opening at its outerend between the same and the chamber through which the fluid may flowfreely, and a door operating a spring mounted in the spring chamber andacting on said connections to actuate the door.

5. A doorclosing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, acylinder in which the piston operates having a larger outer portion inwhich the piston moves freely, and a contracted inner portion in whichthe piston fits closely, operatin connections between a door and one 0%-said parts, a by-pass for controlling the movement of fluid in the outerportion of the cylinder to control the movement of the piston, aseparate spring chamber connected in co-axial relation wtih thecylinder, the cylinder having an opening at its outer end through whichthe fluid may fiow freely from the cylinder into the chamber andpassages for conducting the fluid from the chamber back into thecylinder on the inner side of the piston. 1

6. A door closing and check mechanism having in combination a piston, acylinder in which the piston o crates having a bypass for controllingthe movement of the controlling fluid to control the movement of thepiston iii-the cylinder; aspri-ngchzimber of" larger 4 diameter than thecylinder connected co -ax-iallywithlthecylinder, the cyl- =-inder havingan open-inginto thechamber of at least vthe'iull diameter of the piston,a door operating spring-niounted in the chamber and acting on" saidconnections to actuate the door, and means for dischargingoil from thechamber into the cylinder on the inner side of the piston- When thepiston is at its 7 outer: position in the cylinder. 7

. 7'. Aidoo'r' closing and check mechanism having in combination apiston, a cylinder having) a by-pass thru Whichthe controlling"fluidhas' a retarded movement, the upper portion-0f said cylinder beingprovided with aspiring-containing chamber, and means for charged 'intothe cylinder on the inner] side =ofthe; piston When the, piston istraversin a I portion of; its outward "stroke.

Signed at New York, N.1Y., this 2d da of' -April,1923,

WILLIAM W. EEKe;

